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God damn another one we have in common. OK some ground breaking news. We have suffered for many years under the leadership of the ex Building Commissioner who through Political Influence only was appointed as the Plumbing Commissioner as well. Now we have a change of Governement who is looking into everything and guess what, our Auditor General has sent down recomendations to the Premier of State that 6 High profile ex members of the Building/Plumbing Commission be charged with several different things. We are waiting to see whether they will proceed or just put it to rest quietly and hope no one notices. Problem is the journos are all over it and waiting in the wings to write it up. It is blatant CORRUPTION at the highest level. Now I am aware that the new Commissioner has already been looking into several jobs. We are relieably told that he is afraid to leave his office becasue every stone on the road has a new and more interesting slug hiding underneath with a different complication to boot. So we are brothers in more ways than one. What stinks is that most of here are honest, reliable and conscientious contractors who pride ourselves in our trade. Then you have the fly by nighter hacks who come in and totally pervert this in the eyes of the consumers. I personally would love to see name and shame but rhe rock spider lawyers use Privacy laws to stop this happening. In the old days it was cut and dry, not anymore. The honest get punished while the corrupt get rewarded

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Turning in inspectors seems to have no affect what-so-ever, unless there is a lawsuit involved. Even lawsuits are not a guarantee to get the results you want in the end.

Over the past 2 years, there is a local story in the paper about a builder who built apartments that had MAJOR code violations, and it still passed inspections. Lawsuits are involved, and nowhere in the stories over the past 2 years, do you hear of any inspector getting fired,sued, or held accountable for this disaster.

Why do you suppose that is? It's because it is written into the law that they work to. They can not be held responsible for something the contractor did wrong. it's also why they can't advise what to do, only suggest or tell you to go back and read the code. When I took the PI and Sub-Code classes, that's what we were instructed to do when asked. Don't tell the contractor how to do it right, that's his job to figure out, only tell him he did it wrong. On plan reviews just mark up the drawings or in the comments say not IAW section blah-blah, but don't tell them how to do it right. That's what we were taught, so you see they condition inspectors to not be as helpful as they might be, mostly to protect that municipality or state from any liability in a suit.

But back on topic, I would turn him in. Back it up with some time/date stamped pictures and maybe have another LMP as a second witness to the violations). Don't mess around locally, go right to the State code enforcement bureau. And that yields no action in a month or two, then go to a local TV station and take it public. They love stories like this as it draws viewers and it can be used to get the message out to the voters about who appointed the inspector which would put pressure on them to correct the situation. Politicians being what they are, none of them are likely to take a hit when they can lay the blame on someone else, so your inspector will be gone when the heat gets high enough on the local electorate.

I counted 6 code violations in about 30 seconds. Job has passed rough-in inspection by current inspector and the permit is still active.

Inspector used to work with the plumber that "passed" this inspection and has been a stickler on other jobs for other plumbers I know.

Do I take pictures of the job, get copies of the passed rough-in permit, and submit them to the state?

What would you do?

Bob, here's what you do. Take pics of each violation in as specific and tight a shot as possible while still showing the code violation. Send these images to the inspector asking him if this installation you found is legal. When he says no. Then lay your cards on the table and be straight up with the fellow. He'll be embarrassed that either his incompetence or corruptness was exposed so no need to rub it in.

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I would tell the person that hired you that the job is not to code and that you will have to redo the work that has been done and have it reinspected (Take pictures before you tear it out). When the inspector shows up to inspect what you replaced ask if there has been any code changes because of what you saw when you we hired to do the job (then show him the pictures) Maybe he doesn't know what he is looking at and his interpretation of the code is different than what it is.

Mike

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it's funny that this subject has come up as just last week i was involved in an inspection for a homeowner that the city of los angeles inspector never bothered to go under the house, no less even break out a flash light. needless to say after i crawled the job which was only a small 2 bathroom house, kitchen and laundry, i found 6 very obvious code violations. not going to get too much into the job specifics at this time, but this is going all the way to the top of the department. pictures were already emailed off to the chief and phone calls and emails have been exchanged. waiting for an answer after thanksgiving as he's going on vacation.

believe me, this i either going to be corrected and policy changed, or you will be seeing it on the television news. tired of all the excuses of why the inspectors don't inspect and don't crawl. the young family has already been ripped off by the plumber and now the city inspectors. not going to let up on this.

pictures will follow when i have an outcome. but not until then. all i can say is they will shock you.

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The bad thing is he can fail the job later if he wants. Put in the money to fix it. Save the grief of the inspector from all aspects.

This is a valid concern that would have to be weighed, but only in the sense of
"do I have enough evidence to sink this guys ship for good, not just wound him?"

Meaning if you're go gunning for him you better do him in on the first shot or you'll face repercussions on your own work from him and everyone other inspector. Even after he is gone his buddies will probably be gunning for you but someday, somewhere, somebody has to take a stand and force them to do their job right. Thing is I'd bet anyone of his peers who hits you with retaliation is probably just as guilty and worried they will be next to get caught.